


love potions can't cure mysteries

by rlvixx



Category: K-pop, VIXX
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:06:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22636444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rlvixx/pseuds/rlvixx
Summary: A series of murders have taken place in the seemingly peaceful town of Bayvault. The country of Ambermore sends one of the guild's best hunters, Leo, to end the reign of terror occurring in the area. With the whole town putting their faith in the renowned hunter, the stakes are high for Leo. But with the help of the overtly strange characters of this town, Leo can solve the mystery surrounding the murders happening, possibly even fall in love in the process? From flirtatious wizards to dainty fairies, and goblins to dragons, Leo is in for the wildest mission of his life.
Relationships: Cha Hakyeon | N/Jung Taekwoon | Leo, Han Sanghyuk | Hyuk/Lee Jaehwan | Ken, Kim Wonshik | Ravi/Lee Hongbin
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	love potions can't cure mysteries

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cakejerry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cakejerry/gifts).



> hi! this is my first ever fic! dedicated, of course, to my ult group, vixx! this is just a taste of what I have in store for this fic but I wanted to post it to get some feedback! let me know if you like it or have other feedback! I would really appreciate it! also I wanted to mention this fic is heavily based on the visual novel titled "When the Night Comes", it inspired me a lot to write something in a fantasy world and I couldn't help but write about vixx. Also since this was originally written in my creative writing course, I didn't use any of the vixx member's actual names. I used stage names and other names similar to their real names! I'm sure you can figure out who is who though ;-)

The rickety train ground to a halt just as Leo added a period to the chicken scratch he was making in the leatherbound notebook he carried everywhere. Tales of his journeys spent hunting down mythical beasts and bringing ends to their reigns of terror in small towns dotted across the countrysides of Ambermore were scattered across the smooth cream-colored pages. He sealed the book and slid it into the small satchel in the aisle seat next to him with slender fingers clad in silver rings. The train was empty except for one other passenger, a werewolf seated to the rear of the car, minding her own business. Leo noticed her ears and the stench of dog immediately when entering the train five hours ago, mentally noting that his weapon, a silver dagger, was by his side if needed. The conductor entered the train car to notify the two passengers that they reached their destination: Bayvault. Leo looked out the window into the twilight outside. It was just dark enough outside that the city began lighting lanterns, illuminating empty cobblestone streets. He had never been here before. Had he, he would have known that this was a strange occurrence for an otherwise lively borough. Upon exiting the train, the first thing he noticed was that the air was thick, damp, and musty. The forest nearby emitted a smell of raw nature that is quite unmatched by anything else in Ambermore; the smell of wood and moss filled his nose. A massive church was nestled smack dab in the middle of town and could be seen towering above the rest of the ancient cottages. Just outside the settlement stood a massive graveyard, that affirmed the towns long history. Moss grew upon many of the gravestones, and the inscriptions in the stones were caked with dirt and were no longer legible. Resting among the headstones were timeworn mausoleums with cracks creeping up their sides like constant testaments of their age. The mist that made itself a home in the graveyard was only intensified by the glow of the twilight blue above.  
The glow of the lanterns led Leo to one of the closest buildings to the tiny train station: a magic shop. The small building was homey and welcoming, which instantly put Leo at ease. Bookshelves displayed items ranging from spell books and glowing crystals to swords and knives lined the walls. Plants of various shapes, sizes, and colors also were dotted across the store, some blooming with flowers and herbs that Leo recognized as being used in certain spells and healing items. The room hummed with magic. Leo felt it. This feeling became even more prevalent as he came face to face with the shop’s owner. Dark purple hair, almost in the style of a bowl cut topped the head of a golden-skinned man that stood behind the counter. He was shorter than Leo but just as slender, his white teeth and radiant smile made his tanned skin even more predominant. He was a wizard and radiated magic, Leo noted how powerful he must be. The owner skipped greetings and got straight to the point, catching the visitor off guard.  
“You must be a hunter judging by the way you grip that dagger on your hip so nonchalantly,” he said, eyeing Leo. The magician was not threatened by the visitor’s presence and would not threaten him in return.  
“I am, in fact. Sorry,” Leo said sheepishly, taking his hand off his weapon and loosening his posture. “I was sent by the Guild to help the other hunters here solve the murder cases that have occurred here in the past month.”  
The shop’s owner sighed in response and walked around to the front of the counter to greet his visitor properly.  
“Chadwick, nice to meet you, thank you for coming all this way to help us,” he said as he stretched out a hand.  
“Leo,” he said introducing himself firstly. “Anything I can do to help is no trouble at all.”  
After retracting his hand from meeting with the magicians, he felt the buzz of magic course from his palm into his chest. Very powerful, Leo thought to himself again. Chadwick let his guard down and flashed the visitor another smile. Leo then noted how handsome the shopkeep was. If this weren’t a mission, maybe he would flirt with the wizard. He cleared his throat and decided to be professional.  
“Do you happen to know anything about the murders?”  
“Other than the fact that my brother was murdered, no I do not,” he said quietly.  
Leo visibly flinched at the response of his acquaintance, feeling guilty for being so insensitive. He took a second to think about his words before he spoke.  
“I… am so sorry for your loss. I plan on getting to the bottom of this as quickly as possible, to avenge your brother and the other hunters who have lost their lives,” he said sincerely. Chadwick smiled faintly, not shocked by Leo’s determination. He was itching to jump to action, the shopkeep could tell by his mannerisms. How Leo fidgeted with the rings on his fingers as he spoke. Hunters do tend to be on the hotheaded side, finding their way into any trouble they could as they worked to protect the citizens of Ambermoore. While Leo did have the same goals as most hunters, Chadwick felt something different about the visitor. The way he spoke was delicate and he often did not make eye contact with the magician as he spoke. When Leo did dare to meet the gaze of the shop owner, his coffee-colored eyes told Chadwick that he wholeheartedly cared for the town of Bayvault. His stare was intense and sent a shiver down the magician’s spine. Clearing his throat, Chadwick focused on the task at hand.  
“I don’t know much about what is happening around here right now, but I do know that you could talk to Jay,” Chadwick said. “I heard at the tavern that he stumbled upon one of the victims a few nights ago in the forest.”  
Leo twirled the silver ring resting on his pinky finger around while collecting his thoughts.  
“The tavern…” he began, looking past Chadwick out the colored stained glass panels into the darkness of Bayvault’s empty streets. “The letter that the Guild sent told me that I would be staying in a room at the tavern.”  
Chadwick turned his head to observe was Leo was looking at. Leo noticed the concern in the shop owner’s eyes as his purple hair swished with the movement of him returning his gaze.  
“You shouldn’t venture out this late. The tavern is across town. We can’t lose anyone else. Please stay here for tonight,” Chadwick pleaded with the hunter. Leo sighed and nodded, running a hand full of purple, thick veins through his mess of wavy black hair. The color of his pale skin greatly juxtaposed that of the strands of dark fluff that covered his head. He wasn’t quite sure who he could trust in this town yet, but something about the genuine distress in the magician’s vibrant grey eyes told Leo that he would be safer in the homely shop rather than on the streets with heaven only knows what murdering innocent citizens. Chadwick turned on his heels, waving a tanned skinned hand, beckoning Leo to follow him behind the mahogany counter. Through the curtains separating the shop from the living quarters lied an even more homely setting. A maroon loveseat sat against a wall behind a wooden table cluttered with different magical objects: even more crystals, a book with worn pages and dark text in a language foreign to Leo, and jars of various herbs. The magician seemed unphased by the mess, walking right past the table to the small area that could barely be called a kitchen. Chadwick waved his hands over the stovetop, lighting a fire and setting a kettle atop the flame in the same motion.  
“Make yourself at home,” Chadwick said taking a seat at a tiny kitchen table opposite that of the oven. Leo sat in the remaining seat at the table.  
“Thank you for letting me stay the night. I appreciate it,” Leo said softly, observing the scenery around him. “I couldn’t imagine letting a total stranger into my home.”  
Chadwick gave him another signature smile.  
“We get plenty of visitors around here, or we used to before this mess,” he said averting his gaze. “The tavern can only hold so many people, and I do what I can to help. I love this town and everyone who lives here. I’m glad I settled down.”  
Leo couldn’t tell if he was genuinely curious about the magician’s past, or if his instincts to question everyone and everything kicked in.  
“What did you do before you came here?”  
Chadwick looked up, eyes wide, cheeks flushed, dismay apparent on his face. He opened his mouth to speak and a cacophony interrupted the pair. Jumping up, the magician took the kettle off the flame, halting the screeching sound it emitted. He snapped his fingers and the flame disappeared. The room was silent except for the sound of liquid hitting the ceramic tea cup set in front of Leo.  
“You had better get some rest if you are to save our town,” he said, piercing the silence.  
“Right…”  
Chadwick fled up stone stairs to what Leo could only assume was a bedroom. The hunter pressed the warm teacup decorated with delicate purple petaled flowers to his lips, the liquid traveled down his throat and filled him with warmth. He didn’t realize how cold he had been until the tea hit his stomach. When only leaves remained at the bottom of the cup, Leo departed from the kitchen and made himself comfortable on the corduroy loveseat. The wooden frame of the couch sighed as he placed all his weight on the piece of furniture. His eyelids immediately felt heavy as soon as his head hit the arm of the chair. Long sets of eyelashes met each other as his eyes fluttered shut. Sleep overcame his body almost immediately.  
…  
One, two, three sharp knocks on the shop’s front door pulled Leo from peaceful slumber. Feeling at his side, he clenched his dagger still in a haze and headed for the front door. It was still quite early, as Chadwick was still asleep and had not opened the shop yet. Flinging to door open, Leo came face to face with another man, a tad shorter and more muscular than the hunter. Seeming human at first glance, Leo let his hand fall from his weapon. Upon further inspection, he noticed that the man’s ears were elongated and ended in points, as well an olive green tail wrapped around the back of his leg-- a goblin.  
“Where is Chadwick?” he said, voice quite a few pitches deeper than Leo’s more feminine voice.  
Almost on queue, Chadwick padded into the room, disheveled. Purple hair sticking up in awkward places, a blousy shirt clung to his frame. His bare feet slapped against the wooden floors as he approached the door.  
“Ravi, what are you doing here so early?” he said rubbing his silver eyes.  
“There’s been another murder, the hunters said they needed a magician to help examine the scene,” Ravi said in a rush, almost stumbling over his words. His eyes were wide, panicked. His tail flicked as he spoke, a visual representation of the stress on his mind. Leo looked from Ravi to Chadwick who pushed back his purple locks, clutching his forehead in disbelief.  
“I’ll go get dressed. You two go on ahead, I’ll meet you there,” Chadwick said.  
…  
Boots clicked at a fast pace against cobblestone streets that lead Leo and his new companion to the edge of town. The distinct smell of earth hit him as he followed behind Ravi into the woods that lie ahead. Delving deeper in the forest behind the goblin, Leo picked up the sound of voices growing distinctly closer. Emerging at a clearing, various citizens from town gathered. Hunters in uniform run ragged, crimson sashes wrapped around their waists identify their positions and sway wildly with movement. Leo straightens out his own sash that lies across his broad, bony shoulders, and heads towards the middle of the clearing where the majority of the hunters congregate. In the midst of them lies a scorch mark on the ground, pitch black. Ashes scattered atop the mark emit a stench that burns Leo’s nose, causing his face to scrunch up.  
“Where’s the rest of the body?” he asked no one in particular.  
“Gone. Just like the rest of them,” a female voice said in the group.  
He nodded in response and continued to cast his gaze at the patch of burnt grass, trying to piece together everything learnt so far, which wasn’t much. Behind him, Leo heard in the midst of the comotion the small crunch of grass being smothered underneath footsteps. He felt the familiar hum of magic pulse through his skin and a warm hand grip his shoulder.  
“I’m here,” he said, eyes settling upon the same sight Leo continued to discern. He sighed and bent down, sliding a tanned finger across the burnt ground. Bringing the digit up to his face, he examines the mixture of ash and remains.  
“Just like the rest. I’m not sure what I expected,” Chadwick said, standing back up, locking eyes with Leo. “What have you deduced our saving grace?”  
The hunter pauses, thinking intently.  
“Despite there being burn marks, this isn’t a dragon case. There would’ve been more destruction here. Could be a demon or a being who practices magic....” he trails off. “Or something I’ve never seen before.”  
“Due to the fact that a handful of hunters have not been able to piece this together, I assume the latter,” Chadwick said. “I have work to do here. Ravi, would you mind showing him to the tavern? Leo, when you get there, find Jay.”  
The goblin nods in response and begins the trek back to Bayvault. Leo, listening to his inner hunter, takes the time on their walk to question his acquaintance.  
“I never formally got to introduce myself, name’s Leo.”  
“I’ve heard about you coming to town. Ravi, nice to meet you,” the goblin replied. “Word travels around here. Lately, it’s been about how you’ve come to take down whatever is disturbing us all.”  
“Right,” he rolled his dark eyes in their sockets, hearing the same thing twice from the only two people he knows in town. “Seeing that scene I’m not sure if I’ll be able to live to those standards. Do you happen to know anything about the murders?”  
“Apparently the only people who have died are creatures. Peaceful creatures. Members of the community. People are beginning to assume it’s hunters who are killing them, because they’re human,” Ravi rambles.  
Leo listens intently as they stumble back onto the stone pathway that paves the way to the center of town. The sun is now awake and hangs low in the sky. Colors from the stained glass of the church's windows dance across Ravi and Leo’s figures as they pass the large structure, heading towards the tavern that lies opposite. Opening the heavy doors engraved in intricate patterns, they are met by the eyes of a few souls desperate enough to need a drink early in the morning, or late at night for them.  
“Jay!” Ravi chimes, taking a seat on one of the wooden barstools, facing the barkeep. Leo joins him in the next seat and meets pointy ears, contagious eye smile and sparkly aura. Teal blue eyes meet Leo’s muddy brown as the barkeep. Faint transparent wings are hidden behind his back but glitter as light that pours through the window onto them. The fairy offers a dainty hand to the hunter. Leo takes it in his own skinny hand and steadily shakes, being careful with the delicate boy.  
“So you’re the hunter that everyone is raving about,” he says, musical and loud, greatly juxtaposed to that of Leo’s hushed voice and Ravi’s deep grumble. He pours Ravi a glass of amber colored whiskey and raises a questioning eyebrow at Leo.  
“I’ll have what he’s having.”  
Ravi continues the conversation: “And rightly so, he has already pieced together more in twenty four hours than all of our hunter’s combined have for weeks.”  
Leo averts his gaze and busies himself by fidgeting with the design on the glass in his hands. A rosy flush crawls across his prominent cheekbones, showing his embarrassment that everyone in this town has so much faith in him. Ravi nudges him reassuringly and takes a gulp of the golden drink in his glass.  
“Jay,” Leo begins. “I was told by Chadwick that you were a witness to one of the murders in the woods the other evening.”  
Jay slowly nods, sandy curls bouncing across his forehead. He plants his hands on the bar in front of him to ground him before he speaks.  
“That… is true,” he scoffs. “Chadwick would be the person to spread that wouldn’t he? What do you want to know?”  
“Why were you in the woods that night?” Leo asks.  
“I was gathering herbs for a new brew I’ve been trying to perfect. I also give them to Chadwick. There’s a stream where they’re plentiful, especially this time of year. I needed rosemary, so I was walking downstream where I knew there was a bush and I heard a scream.”  
The color drained from his face as he relived the memory. Leo placed his hand over the fairy’s white knuckled hand gripped on the wood in front of him.  
“Take your time,” Leo reassured him, removing his hand and placing it back on his crystal glass.  
“I headed towards where it came from and came across a pile of ash. There was something big running through the woods away from the burn mark on the ground. I didn’t get a good look but it for sure wasn’t human. I also found this,” he says, pulling out a crimson sash from a hunter’s uniform, drenched in blood. Taking the sash from his hands, Leo observes the stained garment, turning it over to examine every last inch.  
“Can I have this?”  
“Sure, be my guest. Having it was creeping me out anyways,” he says, shivering dramatically, all past fear melting off him.  
“Thank you, I think I’ll have Chadwick help me identify it’s owner,” Leo says, stowing it away. “Now, about my room here…”  
Jays pointed ears perk up.  
“Oh! Right this way,” Jay exclaimed.  
…  
The hunter secured the last tortoise shell button on his pajama top that clung loosely off his bony shoulders. Raven colored curls are smothered as Leo rests his head upon the feather pillow beneath him. He sighs out a puff of hot breath that blows a single curl out from in front of his vision to join the rest of his head of hair. Recounting the scarce information he gained today, Leo focuses on the cedar ceiling above him. The aged wooden building sighs exhaustingly as the wind outside beats on it and the hunter does the same, coming to the conclusion that whatever is happening in Bayvault is not the average case for a hunter, not even of his caliber.


End file.
